Kitty
by Aria6
Summary: The story of an original character named Kitty, and the trouble she can get into in the world of Kingdom Hearts. Set after Kingdom Hearts 2, Sora Riku and Seifer will all be involved... enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

_My name is Kitty._

_I know, it's a fucking stupid name, isn't it? Sounds like it was custom designed to launch me in my porn career. The scary part is that that really might have been what my parents intended. How d'you like those lemons?_

_I'm the hottest redhead to ever walk the face of the planet. Ask my brother. He'll tell you. Oh, yes, he'll tell you._

_This is my story. It's a fucked up story because I'm a kind of fucked up person. There will be dares, double dog dares and lots of sex. What type of sex? Pretty much all of them. Hey, my porn career doesn't launch itself, even with the name. Okay, I'm lying, there's no actual porn. But there will be a lot of sex._

_My name is Kitty after all._

* * *

Puzzled, she walked slowly down a pathway through a field of grass. The grass looked trimmed, and that was annoying. Kitty liked her grass long and about ready to go to seed. Long enough to hide in if you really needed to. That was good grass.

She pulled out a red glass bead and looked through it, but saw nothing but shadows. No suggestions then. She idly tossed the stone from one hand to another, then shrugged and continued on.

There was a cross roads ahead, and a man standing at it. She looked him over with a small frown. He was wearing a robe that concealed everything… and bandages over his entire face, except one eye. Naturally, she said the first thing that came to mind.

"So hey… are you horribly scarred or just really ugly?" He gave her a look, even through the bandages, that seemed to indicate she wasn't amusing him. Naturally, Kitty didn't give a shit.

"Who are you?" He asked, and she lifted her eyebrows.

"Kitty. And you are?"

"DiZ." He paused a moment to examine her. She looked like a complete firecracker… a buxom redhead who walked like a young tigress with smoking green eyes. Her face was exquisitely beautiful and untouched by any makeup. Her clothing was a black, cleavage baring shirt and torn, battered blue jeans. She wore a necklace, a leather cord strung with a single seashell. "What are you doing here?"

"I took a leap into the darkness. What's it to you?" She demanded, and DiZ sighed to himself. He could already tell this one, unlike Riku, was going to be far more trouble than she could ever be worth.

So he wasn't going to bother with her. It was as simple as that.

"You can take the path to the light, or the path to the darkness." She glanced at the pathways through the grass, and sneered. DiZ blinked as she pushed past him, then walked out onto the grass. "Hey! What are you doing?"

"Walking on the grass, assknob. What's it look like?" Kitty didn't care for paths. She would make her own way, and the universe be damned.

"You can't do that!" DiZ had no idea what would happen to her, but he thought she would probably be lost forever. But she didn't even look back.

"Watch me." And he watched as she walked away, into the endless sea of grass, and wondered if he would ever see her again.

Probably not. And it was probably for the best.


	2. The Word of the Day is Assknob

Kitty walked through the grass, unconcerned by the strangeness of the whole thing. She wasn't getting hungry, even though it had probably been hours. She wasn't thirsty either, or cold or hot. It felt… good.

The grass was getting longer, and she enjoyed the way it tickled her thighs as she walked. Then the grass parted, and she saw a green and black portal in front of her. Just like the one she had leapt through.

"Why the fuck not?" She asked anything and everything, then jumped through.

She landed on hard pavement, crouching and putting a hand on the wet stone to steady herself. She threw her head back, tossing back her bright red hair, green eyes crackling as she spotted a figure in black staring at her. Or at least, she assumed he was staring since she couldn't see his face. Glancing around, she took in the tall buildings, the dark stone, and felt almost at home.

"Who the hell are you?" He asked, his voice bouncing off the stones, and she straightened, pulling back her shoulders and eyeing him boldly.

"I'm Kitty. Who are you? And are you too ugly to show your face, or what?" She demanded, and he laughed, pulling back his hood. She looked him over and decided he didn't look half bad. Long black and silver hair pulled into a ponytail, an eyepatch and one hell of a scar on the other cheek. It reminded her of a pirate she had seduced, a long time ago.

"I'm Xigbar. You're quite a little bitch, aren't you?" He grinned at her and she grinned back, not offended in the least. "Hm… can you fight, Kitty?" She sneered at him.

"Can I fight? What kind of question is that?" A knife seemed to materialize in her hand, and she flung it into the wall beside his head. He didn't move an inch, just glanced over at the knife quivering in the wall thoughtfully. Kitty was slightly impressed… most people at least flinched. "If your beak had a bug on it, I could pick it off." She flicked her wrist and the dagger reappeared in her hand. That enchantment had cost her a pretty penny, but it had been more than worth it. From the appreciative look on his face, Xigbar thought so too. Or maybe he was looking at her tits. It was hard to tell.

"So, Kitty, would you be interesting in becoming a Nobody and joining Organization 13? We're an up and coming thing." He said playfully, walking closer, and Kitty bounced her knife thoughtfully as she eyed him. He took the hint and stopped moving.

"Dunno. What's a Nobody?" It sounded mystical, but she'd never heard of it before.

"Oh, well, you just have to give up your heart." Xigbar said casually, as if it was nothing, and Kitty pursed her lips. Her heart might be the size of a walnut, but she wasn't sure she wanted to give it up so easily.

"That sounds like suckage. On the other hand, you're tempting…" She eyed him thoughtfully and he grinned at her again, a touch flattered. "Let's ask the oracle." Xigbar frowned, confused, as she flipped out her piece of red glass and looked through it at him. It showed her a quick vision of his death at the hands of a brown haired boy, then the grass again. Kitty tilted her head. The grass? Was the grass still here?

Oh yes. Yes it was. If she looked at the ground in a certain way, she could see it.

"Sorry Xigbar, the oracle says you're going to die and I don't join the losing team. Sorry." She flipped the glass in her hand, as Xigbar pulled out two strange guns.

"I didn't say you had a choice." He said pleasantly, and she sneered at him.

"And I didn't say I was giving you one, assknob." And then she stepped sideways into the grass.

Xigbar stared at the place she had been standing, and cautiously looked around. There had been no gate to the darkness, nothing like a Nobody would use to travel. Was she still here? He strained every sense, trying to find her, and finally had to conclude that she was gone. That left the question of what he should do about it. If he told Xenmas about the girl, the Superior would be angry that he hadn't brought her in. On the other hand… no one had seen this.

"This never happened." He told the walls, then turned and walked away.

* * *

Kitty walked through the grass again, occasionally glancing into the oracle. But it had no more suggestions.

"I need to find something. This grass is getting boring." She complained to the world. The world didn't care. "Oh yeah, ignore me, fine." Muttering profanities, she stomped through the grass. It was easily waist high now, exactly the way she liked it.

Then the grass opened up, and she found another portal. Without a thought, she leapt through.

Why not, after all?

This time she found a beautiful tropical island. Kitty had read about places like this, but had never seen one. Reaching down, she picked up a coconut and shook it, hearing the liquid inside. Making a small hm sound, she pulled out her dagger and knelt, easily cracking it open with a quick trust. Drinking the liquid, she looked around again. The sky was wonderfully blue, the sand was pure white… and the island felt deserted. Was she all alone?

Kitty shrugged. Being alone didn't bother her. In some ways, it would be a tremendous relief. No one she had to please, no scrambling for money and status. Just a simple life on a simple island, finding food and shelter and having fun. Kitty grinned to herself. Oh yes, she could have fun all alone.

She had been doing it all her life.

* * *

Sometime later.

Kitty worked open another oyster with her knife, cut the muscle inside and slurped it down. It was a monster oyster, a good seven inches across, and took quite a bit of chewing. She tilted her head back, reveling in the taste of the sea.

Life on her island was very good. There was a spring of fresh water only an hour away, and she had set up her home beside it. She had learned to fashion coconut shells into water containers, and carried one with her wherever she went. She had found copper deposits in a cave and was learning how to work them. She already had fish hooks and was working on a line made from some vines. Sharp sticks worked well for spear fishing, and fish was just as much a staple in her diet as oysters.

She was having a ton of fun figuring things out. Like lighting a fire. It hadn't been easy, but she'd found some flint and used it with the steel of her knife to get a fire going. Now, making fires was as easy as breathing. She hadn't known a thing about construction before she arrived, and her home was starting to look pretty good. Kitty had gotten a tan too, her skin turning a warm gold. She thought it looked really good on her.

She'd also had time to spend playing. Magic was in her blood, it always had been, and that gave her a lot of scope for some really bizarre games. She had one in mind right now, in fact.

Finishing her breakfast, Kitty picked up a board. It had taken a lot of work with a copper axe to fashion it, but she'd finally gotten it into a good shape. There weren't many waves today, which suited her plans perfectly. She set the board in the water and it floated, and she quickly stepped onto it then sent a blast of magical energy into the water behind her before she could start to sink.

The board took off like she'd lit a rocket behind it, and she yowled in triumph as she soared across the water. Then the board suddenly sank.

"Oh shi-" Her exclamation was muffled by a tremendous splash as she hit the water going Mach 1. Spluttering and coughing, she surfaced and paddled back to shore. "Owie." She staggered out of the water, then took a seat on the beach. Reaching down, she began picking splinters out of her legs. "Maybe I should have thought that one out a bit more before I tried it." That was how her first tries on a new stunt usually went, though. It wasn't a good trick unless you bled a lot learning it. Picking out a sliver, she examined it. By that standard, this would be an awesome trick when she figured it out.

There was a thump behind her, and she turned her head to look, expecting to see a coconut. Her mouth dropped open in shock as she saw a boy, his head bent down, clinging to a tree for support. He had fine silver hair, sticking to his head with blood, and was wearing a blindfold. He was also wearing a robe like that Xigbar dude… and nothing less practical for this island could have been imagined. He'd be sweating like a pig soon in this heat.

"Who the hell are you and why are you bleeding on my beach?" She demanded, jumping to her feet. He shuddered, looking up and clawing away the blindfold. Kitty started forward as she saw his eyes… his pupils were blown, one twice the size of the other, and as she grabbed his arm he bent forward and vomited. "Now you're throwing up on my beach…" She muttered, but without much irritation. Everything about how the boy was acting screamed head injury, and she wasn't quite a bitch enough to leave him bleeding on her beach. No, not quite.

"Riku." She frowned at him, not understanding. He was slurring his words badly. "My name is… Riku."

"Oh. Dandy. Now sit down and let me clean this shit out." He sat down dociley as she pressed on his shoulder. A bit too much so, Kitty thought… he seemed confused by what was happening, and that wasn't good. Frowning, she started cleaning out the gash on his head with some liquor she'd come up with. It tasted like hell and burned like the devil, but right now it was probably exactly what the doctor ordered. The boy shuddered at the touch of it, but didn't pull away and she gave him a few points for that. It had to hurt like a bitch. "You're lucky. If this had been a bit higher and to the left, your brains would be leaking out your ears." She grabbed his robe and started slicing off pieces of it to bind the wound. He tried to push her away weakly, but she slapped his hands away. "You're not going to want to wear this anyway, assknob. It's hot here." Riku seemed to focus on her a moment, frowning.

"It's not supposed to be hot in the darkness." Kitty shrugged.

"I don't know shit about that, but I'm not sure where we are. Now hush." He hushed, and she finished wrapping the cloth around his head. "You're going to have a hell of a scar in there. Hair might come in white, not that anyone would notice." She frowned at him, realizing the boy was starting to doze off. "Hey, wake up." She yanked him to his feet, and Riku pulled his head up, blinking. "You're not supposed to sleep with something like this. C'mon, we're walking back to my hut." The walk would keep him awake for a while, at least, and then he would have a place to sleep.

And if he died in his sleep, well… that would simplify things considerably.

In some ways, Kitty really did have a heart the size of a walnut.


	3. The Word of the Day is Sex

"Psh, not again." Kitty grumbled as she scraped the burnt bits off her fish. She still wasn't very good at cooking them, although she'd gotten a lot better at scaling. "You better appreciate this." She said to the limp form sleeping on the floor of her hut. He didn't answer. "And you better not be dead, I made enough for two." Sighing, she set aside the fish and went to check. He was breathing and had a steady pulse. "Okay then, wake up." She shook him, but he stubbornly stayed unconscious. "Come on, you've slept what, ten hours? This better not be a coma." If so, she was cutting his throat and dumping him in the ocean. There was no way she was taking care of a vegetable she didn't even know. "Hmm…" Pulling out a coconut full of her alcohol, she stuck her dagger in it and used her magic. A vile, penetrating scent emanated from it and she gagged, thrusting it under the boy's nose.

"Agah!" He jerked awake, eyes rolling back for a moment before she tossed the coconut away. It caught a few bushes on fire, but they quickly went out. "What… ah… darkness!" Riku pushed himself up, gasping and gagging. "What was that?" Kitty shrugged, wiping off her knife and putting it away.

"Pure nastiness. Breakfast is ready, if you don't mind charred fish on a stick." She grabbed one and handed it to him. Riku stared at it, slightly appalled.

"The head is still on." He pointed out weakly. She lifted her eyebrows at him.

"That's the best part. If you don't want it, I'll eat it." She neatly bit hers off, and crunched the bones with relish. Then she frowned and spat out a scale. "Fucking scales. I never get them all."

"I'll pass." Riku handed her back the fish, and Kitty's sneered at him before shrugging and tucking it into her belt.

"I bet you've never eaten a rat, either." Riku decided not to point out that that was indeed the case. "You better be into raw oysters then, they're the other big thing around here. That and coconuts. Here, have one." She grabbed one of the coconuts she'd harvested and cracked it easily. Riku looked at it dubiously for a moment, then drank the coconut milk gratefully, picking out the crisp flesh of the nut and eating it as Kitty made a breakfast of the fish.

"I'm sorry. I never caught your name." Riku finally said to the girl, really looking at her for the first time, and swallowed. She was lovely, in an utterly savage way. She was wearing the remains of jeans, cut into shorts and so shredded that he could see patches of her skin through them, and a black top that had been cut into more of a bra, just enough to hold her steady. Seashells swung on little vine thongs as she moved, caressing her warm, tanned skin and flaming red hair. He looked into her green eyes, and saw something sparkle in their depths, like rubies or molten fire.

"I'm Kitty." She replied, unselfconsciously scratching a tit. Riku watched, almost paralyzed, as her finger slid under the black material of her shirt.

"You, uh, you live here alone?" Kitty smirked as she saw Riku desperately trying to keep his eyes on her face. The kid was as transparent as a pane of glass. She tugged out her shirt a little, and he swallowed again. Kitty's smirk turned into a grin.

Teasing Riku was going to be fun as hell.

"Yeah. As far as I can tell, I'm the only person to ever touch this place. Which works for me, I've never liked other people too much." She picked up a water coconut, and took a long drink before offering the container to Riku. He hesitated, then took it. Asking for another because it was unhygienic would not, he was sure, go over very well. And a dark, treacherous part of him was more than willing to swap spit with her. Blushing, he drank from the nut before giving it back. Kitty put it down and patted it into place. "So, what are you doing here?"

"I really don't know." Riku said slowly. "I fought someone and lost, but I don't know how I came here." He just remembered the fight with Roxas and the blinding pain. Gritting his teeth, Riku pulled himself to his feet. "I need to get back to DiZ." He swayed, fighting back nausea.

"DiZ? That assknob? Why bother. Just stay here." She watched, interested, as Riku shook his head.

"No. There's a friend I have to save." If it weren't for Sora, he would have been sorely tempted to just stay here. He reached for the darkness and suddenly blanched. "The darkness… I can't make a corridor here?" He couldn't figure out how to get out. There was no way to reach the darkness at all, or at least, not the way he usually did it. "Where is this place?"

"No idea, seriously. Here, let me ask the oracle." Riku blinked as she flipped out a piece of red glass and looked through it at him. Kitty watched, interested, as she saw Riku resting and recovering. "The oracle says you should stay a while and get better before you try to move on. Sound good?"

"…Yes." That actually did sound good. Riku didn't want to leave too soon, and even if he got back to DiZ immediately he'd still need some time to recover. This was a much better place to recover than DiZ's lab.

Much better indeed.

* * *

Riku grunted as he pulled himself up the hill. He was wearing nothing but his pants, now, and even they verged on being too hot. Kitty was in front of him, her derriere swaying nicely as she pulled herself up over the rocks. He couldn't help but admire the view.

"What are we doing here again?" He asked plaintively, and she looked down at him with a grin.

"Collecting salt from the mineral pools!" Salt was useful in so many ways. Kitty was trying to figure out how to cure fish with it, so she could travel without worrying much about food. The island was pretty big and she had explored a lot of it, but it would be nice to not have to worry about catching food along the way and smoking had not been a great success. "Come on, work it Riku!" He was falling behind, and forced himself on.

"Stop being a bitch, Kitty." He called up to her, and she flashed him a quick grin.

"When you stop being an assknob, I'll think about it. Catch!" She tossed him a copper pick as they reached the top of the hill. There was a mineral pool there, and plenty of solid salt on the banks where the water had evaporated. Riku passed her one of the baskets he had been carrying, and they set to work harvesting the salt.

Riku had reluctantly come to the conclusion that he wasn't going to be leaving this world until DiZ found him. He had tried everything he could think of, and he simply couldn't create a portal out. Kitty hadn't been very helpful. He had a suspicion that she knew some way out that she wasn't telling him, but there was absolutely no way to get it out of her. They had practiced a bit as he was recovering, and even though she fought with just a knife, he'd found that she was as bad as Roxas. He'd picked up plenty of bruises, and she said she was being gentle with him! And the hell of it was, he thought she was telling the truth. She fought dirty. And there was something really odd about her dagger sometimes…

"Okay, that's all I need. Hey Riku, want to see something really fucking cool?" Kitty was grinning widely, and if Riku had known her a bit more that would have worried him.

But he didn't, so he walked right into it.

"Sure, what is?" Kitty grinned, taking the baskets.

"You'll have to get on my, piggyback." Riku started to back away, but she sneered at him. "Don't pussy out on me Riku." Frowning, he wrapped his arms around her shoulders, then hooked his legs around her waist. She was holding the baskets, so he needed to cling tightly, and Kitty seemed unaffected by his weight. "You're not that heavy, perfect. Okay, this is the fast way down!" Riku tensed.

"Wait, what?" They were standing on the edge of a steep, rocky hill. What was she planning?

His question was answered a moment later as she flung her dagger into the top of the hill, and it erupted in red light. Rocks, some of them quite large, started cascading down the hill and she leapt out into them, laughing wildly as she leapt from rock to rock, always moving and never stopping.

Riku closed his eyes tightly as she surfed the rocks down the hill, utter terror and a strange exhilaration fighting for dominance. Kitty only felt the exhilaration, the shining feeling of living right on the edge of life and death. Just before they would have went into the trees, she took a long, fine leap and landed neatly on a broad rock not far from the bottom.

"I win! Kitty does it again! Waaaahooo!" Riku slid off, feeling numb with shock as Kitty dropped her baskets and began to dance. The trip down, which should have taken an hour, had taken less than a minute. "You're gonna go far kid, you're gonna go far!" Whirling around, she grinned at Riku, then pounced him onto the stone. He yelped as he was knocked onto his back. "Hey Riku?" He stared into her eyes, seeing that glint of ruby in the green depths. "I'm horny. Let's do it."

"You're _insane._" He said hoarsely, and she grinned as he felt his heart flutter.

"I'm named Kitty. Duh." And they kissed. It wasn't how Riku had imagined his first real kiss would go… it almost felt like a battle, both of them trying to establish dominance. Mustering all his strength, he turned the tables on her, and she made a startled sound in his mouth as he put her on her back. "You want to be on top, huh?" She purred, licking his throat as Riku slid a hand under her shirt, running a thumb over her nipple as he explored her breasts. She hooked her fingers into the waistband of his pants, pulling them down. Riku was already hard and erect, and she grinned as she felt him against her belly.

"Kitty, I've… never…" Riku said, his voice rasping as he looked into her eyes again. He was afraid but eager, but his… other experiences hadn't prepared him for this. It wasn't the same at all and it stirred him in a way he'd never felt before.

"Never been with a woman?" She supplied for him, and kissed him again. This time it was more tender, deeper and more intimate. "I'll show you."

And she did. Riku found heaven between her thighs that day, and made her grunt and tremble in the sun, sweat beading on tanned skin. Birds exploded from the brush as she cried out in ecstasy, a moment of perfect pleasure he had hoped for but not expected. They were left tangled together, gasping and trembling from the aftershocks.

"Kitty." Riku buried his head against her neck. "I don't want to go." It was so strange. He'd left an island, spent all his time desperately searching for Kairi and Sora, and now was trying to save Sora again… and he was back on an island again. And this time, he didn't want to leave. She was intoxicating, addicting, like the candy that tasted so good but was oh so bad for you.

"Then don't." Kitty breathed in his ear. "Be selfish. I do it all the time." Riku shuddered, then laughed, low and bitter.

"I've already been selfish. I can't." Pulling away, he pulled his pants back up, and Kitty sat up, getting her clothing back together.

"Oh? Let's ask the oracle." She flipped out her red stone, and looked through it again. It showed her many things, too many to sort out in just a moment, but she understood. Lowering it, she smiled at him. "Riku, you'll go, but you'll be back. So don't get your undies tied in a knot. Let's just enjoy the time we have."

"Alright." And it was. Riku felt something inside himself ease at her words… if DiZ figured out how to get him out, he'd know how to get back. So he could go back for her.

Someday.

* * *

Riku and Kitty were eating oysters on the beach, making it a contest of who could slurp the loudest. Kitty was winning by a longshot when Riku felt something change.

He could feel the darkness again. Somehow, it had been connected to this place. He turned, and wasn't at all surprised to see DiZ on the beach.

"Riku." DiZ didn't look at all pleased with him, as Riku pulled himself to his feet and Kitty sneered. "There is work to be done. We must leave immediately."

"I know." He looked down at Kitty, who looked back, expressionless. "Kitty… do you want to come?" She sneered again at DiZ.

"With assknob over there? I don't think so. He wouldn't take me anyway." DiZ didn't say anything, but Riku looked at him and could see that was true. "Go, have fun, and come back when you're done." He looked at her, but couldn't think of anything to say.

Kitty watched as they vanished into the darkness, then shrugged, and started eating Riku's oysters. It had been nice to have him around and she looked forward to seeing him again, but she wasn't heartbroken.

She wasn't really sure she had a heart to break.

* * *

_So that was the start of the sex. If I could have filmed it, my porn career would have been off to a good start. Or Riku's. It's hard to tell how these things go sometimes._

_Don't worry, it's far from over. There will be more sex. Oh yes, there will. Oh, and blood, a lot of blood._

_I'm Kitty after all._


	4. The Word of the Day is Sums

Author's Note: I'm taking a bit of liberty with the storyline and putting them going to school in Traverse Town. Why? It's a lot cooler than the Destiny Islands. I'm making a lot of stuff up along the way. ^_^

"Ansem, are you watching that girl again?" DiZ said, irritated, as he walked up behind Ansem/Riku. Ansem was watching a screen intently, and as DiZ had suspected, it was that irritating woman. He squinted at it, trying to figure out what she was doing… her position looked vaguely obscene, but it had to be unintentional. Kitty had no idea she had an audience.

At Riku's… Ansem's request, he had set up a monitor on the woman. Grudgingly, very grudgingly, but he had done it. The world she lived in didn't seem to be quite real. In fact, DiZ strongly suspected it had been created from her thoughts and memories. That was worrisome in the extreme. Very few beings had the strength of will to manipulate the darkness that way, and she had done it effortlessly, if it was true. Of course, it was only one theory. Perhaps another entity had created the place for her. That was still worrying, but less so. DiZ shuddered to think of such power in that girl's hands.

"It's not like I have anything else to do." Ansem pointed out reasonably. "Roxas is only at thirty-two percent." He had a smaller monitor set to watch what was happening with Roxas and alert him if he was needed. Turning gold eyes back to the monitor, Ansem rested his chin on his hand. "DiZ… when this is done, I think I'm going to go live with her." He glanced down at his hands. "She won't care about what I look like, or the darkness I've embraced." He thought Kitty's reaction to his new appearance would be to demand to try out his new body immediately. Ansem smiled faintly at the thought.

It was strange and probably less than wise, but Kitty had become a light at the end of the tunnel for him. Sora… he was working to save his best friend, but what would Sora think of him now? He had embraced the darkness and taken on the form of their worst enemy. How could he expect Sora to accept him when he was this tainted?

"Because she's completely amoral." DiZ growled behind him. "Not to mention unpredictable, rude and insane." Ansem smiled faintly. He knew exactly why DiZ couldn't stand Kitty. DiZ disliked things that couldn't be neatly ordered, which was why he quite liked computers… and probably why his work with hearts had gone so badly wrong. Most of the time he could deal with that dislike, but somehow Kitty had rubbed him exactly the wrong way.

"Precisely." He turned to meet DiZ's gaze, until the other looked away. "Was there something you wanted of me?"

"Yes, actually. Roxas has decided to go to the beach. We'll need to prevent that." Ansem listened carefully as DiZ outlined his plan.

He had a lot of work to do before he could return to Kitty's island.

* * *

Much later.

In the joy at having his old body and friends back, Riku put Kitty aside for a while… but he couldn't forget about her. She was like a magical fire that could easily burn, but could never be forgotten. Finding her again, though, took some work. If he'd been able to access the corridors of darkness it would have been easy. But he couldn't do that anymore, so he'd had to go at it in a round-about fashion. He'd found the way to Twilight Town in Traverse Town, and made his way to DiZ's lab. Using the equipment there, he'd found the way DiZ had located him in Kitty's realm originally, and replicated that. It had taken some time to do, and he knew Sora and Kairi would be worried about him despite his reassurances before he left… but some things just had to be done.

When he finally got onto the island, he couldn't help but stare, bedazzled. Kitty still had her jeans, but they had been turned into skeletons, hardly more than enough to cover her. Her shirt was gone completely, probably shredded in one of her games, and with no cloth to replace it she had opted to simply go unclothed. Her full body tan was… stunning. Right now she was standing in the water, holding a copper tipped spear and looking intently into the water. As he watched, her hand flashed down and when she lifted it, there was a flopping fish at the end of her spear.

"Kitty!" He called to her and waved. She looked up from her fishing, surprised, and grinned and waved back. She splashed to the shore then stopped for a moment, just looking at him.

Riku hadn't changed a bit that she could see… except that he was wearing new and, in her opinion, better clothes. But the soft silver hair and the beautiful green eyes were just the same, and he was looking fit and healthy. And pleased to see her… that was nice.

"You took your sweet time getting back!" She said teasingly, which made him wince. "Ah, don't worry about it Riku. I haven't been wasting my time." She looked at the portal behind Riku, which was still active. "I'm guessing you're not planning to stay." Riku looked at her, wondering if he heard sadness in her voice. It was hard to tell, since she immediately tossed back her hair and stared at him challengingly. He was moving before he even thought about it, holding her and sliding a hand through that thick, red hair.

"No… but I was hoping you would come with me. I'm going to school in Traverse Town now with Sora and Kairi." It was wonderful to be able to say that. Living on Kitty's island would have been good… but this was great. If she would come with him. "You could go to school too." Kitty wrinkled her nose.

"Learning? What use would I have for that? I can read already, and count up to thirty." Riku blinked. Thirty?

"Can you do multiplication? Division?" He asked cautiously, and Kitty suddenly grinned.

"Oh sure, I'm just using an anti-pregnancy charm. And I can divide anything with my knife." Riku almost choked at that reply, but caught the wicked gleam in her eye. She was teasing him again.

"You know what I mean." He managed to get out, and Kitty shrugged, snuggling up a bit.

"Yeah, you mean sums. No, I can't do sums. Hated them, didn't see any reason to learn." She tapped his chest thoughtfully for a moment. "Sums… this idea is daft, but it sounds like it might be interesting. And the island is starting to get boring. Sure, why not?" Then she kissed him thoroughly.

That was Kitty's answer to everything.

* * *

"She can only stay here a week." Riku's aunt told him sharply. "Then she'll need to have her own place."

"Yes auntie." He replied neutrally, and Kitty sneered, playing with the ties of her brand new shirt. Riku poked her in the side with an elbow, and she gave him a look, then pasted on the cheesiest, stupidest looking smile he had ever seen. Fortunately, his aunt had already turned away, but his cousin was sniggering at them.

Riku hadn't wanted to take her to his Aunt's house, but there hadn't been any other options. They were his family here, and had guardianship over him until he was eighteen. Until then, he would endure whatever he needed to. And Kitty would need the week to get on her feet here, although Riku didn't doubt that she could have managed if they had thrown her onto the street immediately. She was that kind of girl.

"I have to go to school," He said to her in an undertone. She leaned close, listening. "Can you meet me on the park at around, um… six?" That would give him plenty of the time to get there. He had to think very hard about how Kitty was going to get an apartment and support herself. Kitty nodded with a smile, running a hand down his back and giving him a tingling feeling in the base of his spine.

"Sure thing. I'll start exploring this place, see what I can do." They left the house together, but separated quickly as Riku went to the school. Kitty wasn't enrolled yet, and there was nothing down there she wanted to see at the moment.

Pausing, Kitty contemplated the world around her, then began wandering. Riku couldn't know, since she hadn't pointed it out to him, but she was from a world that was just starting the jump into the technological revolution. She could recognize the vehicles around her as horseless carriages. The ones with just two wheels were confusing, but clearly a derivate. Traffic lights took a bit of observation, but she figured them out after the first time she almost got hit.

"So what am I going to do around here?" Kitty wondered out loud as she walked, glancing at the stores. Half the merchandise was stuff she couldn't recognize at all. "I'm not giving blow jobs in alley's again, that sucked…" Ignoring a few quizzical looks from other pedestrians, she took a seat on a bench and thought.

Riku assumed that she would get a job as a waitress or clerk at a store, but he didn't understand the realities of Kitty's home world. Where she came from, those were subsistence jobs where you could expect to work from dusk to dawn and earn just enough to put a roof over your head and food in your belly. Clearly that wouldn't work, if she was supposed to go to school with Riku, so she didn't even consider it. She needed something that would make good money without too much time investment. The options that occurred to her were violence, sex and sex appeal. Violence looked to be out, she could tell that this was a respectable place without any real slums. Sex was out. She had a feeling Riku was kind of serious about her, and few men liked having a whore for a girlfriend.

So that left sex appeal. And if Riku didn't like that, he could get stuffed. Grinning, Kitty decided to take the direct route and picked out a prosperous, older looking man to accost.

"Hey, sir? Would you happen to know the name of the best gentleman's club in town." He looked confused, and she added helpfully. "You know, the type where the girls dance."

"Oh! Err… that would be the Black Kitty Club, down on Diagon Way." She got a few directions, then walked off humming.

She had a plan.

* * *

At the beach.

Kitty kicked the soft dirt with a toe as she leaned against the tree. She hadn't managed to get into too much trouble, although she had stolen a few things. Surreptitious stealing wasn't her usual thing… she preferred the gangland approach her first boyfriend had taught her… but a girl needed spending money and Riku had forgotten to give her some.

Assuming he had any. Kitty's brow creased as she thought about it, and she groaned. Her island had freed her of the tyranny of money, but now she was back on that treadmill.

"Oh well." She mumbled to herself. "At least it's interesting." She really had been running out of things to do on the island. Kitty didn't bore easily, but she could make it there eventually.

"Kitty!" She turned her head with a smile at the familiar voice. Riku was really starting to grow on her. He jogged up, two other people behind him… a girl with auburn hair who seemed to favor pink, and a boy with absurdly spiky brown hair. She pushed herself away from the tree, grinning as he put an arm around her shoulders. "Kitty, these are my friends, Sora and Kairi. Sora, Kairi, this is my girlfriend Kitty." The girl seemed surprised but pleased, and the boy… Kitty eyed him thoughtfully as Sora went through several expressions quickly and finally settled on shock.

"Riku, you have a girlfriend? That's wonderful!" Kairi offered a hand to shake, and Kitty clasped it firmly with a smile. "Welcome to Traverse Town. We're all a bit new here, but we're making friends already. We can introduce you as soon as you enroll." Kairi clearly wanted to make her feel welcome, and Kitty's eyes twinkled as she smiled.

"Thanks, I'd appreciate that." And she would. Getting in trouble was a lot more fun when you had friends who were willing to hold your coat as you kicked in the doors to Hell. Of course, she didn't know if their friends would be like that, but there was no way to know but go. "Oh, Riku, I've got a job."

"Already?" He sounded surprised, and she nodded.

"Yeah, and one of the girls there offered to put me up if I could pay part of the rent, so I think I'm set." Riku blinked at her.

"Wow… you're fast. I wasn't even sure what you could get a job doing. Where are you going to be working?"

"The Black Kitty Club." Kitty grinned, wondering if any of them would have any idea what it was. Apparently not, because they accepted it without question. "I'm an entertainer." Which was certainly true. "I'll be making seven bucks an hour plus tips."

"That's great!" Riku cuddled her for a moment, and Kitty melted against him, running a finger down his chest. She caught an odd expression on Sora's face for a moment, but it was gone almost instantly. "Lets go out and celebrate. My aunt gave me some spending money." Kitty grinned at him.

"That would be great, since you forgot to give me any money and I'm starving." The little bit of money she had gotten from her thefts had gone to lunch, and it was wearing thin. Riku looked startled, then ashamed.

"Oh, I'm sorry Kitty. There's a little café we can go to…" He took her hand, and they started walking, with Sora and Kairi following.

Riku was glad his friends and new girlfriend seemed to be getting along. He hadn't caught the nuances Kitty was picking up at all.


	5. The Word of the Day is Incest

Kitty frowned, idly adding up the tallies her teacher had given her. She still thought it was a fairly pointless thing to learn, but compared to some of the other subjects' sums was a useful thing.

What good, for instance, were the history lessons? They were fun, like reading a story, but really. They didn't even have the useful bits. Kitty wanted to hear about how exactly how people had did things, but did the stories mention that? Of course not. Still, she was finding it easy to learn, unlike the sums.

Kitty had a very able mind, but everything that reached it was filtered through a lens of usefulness. On her own world and the island, that had been a good strategy. She had picked up the rudiments of everything from seafaring to wilderness survival and made herself useful to everyone along the way. But it wasn't the kind of attitude to endear her to her teachers, and she had been given tons of remedial work to get her up to speed.

"X equals 2x times 6. What is X?" Shoving her pencil through the paper, she snorted. "X is a huge whore. Who cares?" Sighing, she concentrated on the paper. If she wanted to stay in Riku's class and not get detention… again… she needed to complete this work for tomorrow. And she was going out with Riku to the movies tonight, so it needed to get done now.

Finally finishing her paper, she sighed and stood, unkinking her back and checking the time. She'd have enough time to grab some lunch if she hurried.

"Hey Kitty! Over here!" She spotted Kairi waving at her as she entered the lunch room, and waved back with a grin. Sora and Riku weren't there, but Hayner, Olette and Pence were. She walked past Seifer and his gang on the way to them.

"Such a pity that someone so pretty sits with the geeks." Seifer said, loud enough for everyone to hear, and she paused a brief moment to give his chair a hard kick before continuing. He sneered at her, and she sneered right back. She kind of liked him… he reminded her a lot of the street thugs she'd known… but if a thug gave you shit, you had to give them shit right back. And Kitty was more than happy to do it.

They kept it to that though. The one time she'd slammed his head onto the table and he'd kicked her in the chest, they'd both gotten detention for a week. Together, to add to the pleasure. Although the swearing contest they'd come up with when the teacher was out of the room had been entertaining. Seifer had ended up winning that one. Taking a seat beside Kairi, Kitty immediately began tearing into her food.

"So, mfph, where's Riku and Sora?" They should have been here. Kairi looked a little troubled as Hayner shrugged.

"They're sick, apparently. They both got sent home early." Kitty blinked, taking a deep drink of her orange juice. She'd have preferred small beer, but this place had weird alcohol restrictions.

"That sucks. I hope Riku's okay, we had plans for tonight." Although they could just put it off. She wouldn't be heartbroken if they missed the movie. "I even did my homework early." There was a laugh around the table.

"You actually DID your homework?" Hayner said in mock disbelief, and she grinned at him.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm learning." At first she had assumed the homework was optional. She'd been disabused of that idea quite rudely and ended up with double the usual detention for lipping off. "I swear, people have no sense of humor around here."

"Yeah, I've never seen Mr. Tomlinson that pissed off before," Pence commented. "What did you say to him?" Kitty paused her eating for a moment, and shrugged.

"Oh, just told him I'm a dirty little savage and he shouldn't bother trying to pound sums into me." Eating a cookie whole, she chewed a few times then swallowed. Olette winced. "So he said I get double detention 'cause I'm actually really smart and should know better." Kitty rolled her eyes. "Like smart has anything to do with sums. One of the smartest guys I ever met couldn't write his own name."

"That wasn't here, Kitty." Kairi pointed out quietly, and Kitty shrugged.

"Yeah, I get the idea. All this learning can't hurt me, I guess. Make me well rounded or some shit." Kitty belched, and Hayner laughed.

"I think it'd take more than math for that." Then the conversation turned to the baseball season, and Kitty listened as they talked about scores and shots that she didn't understand.

She liked them. They weren't like the friends she'd had before… she couldn't really trust them with her knife, the way she felt she could trust Riku, but they were alright. Turning her head, she caught Seifer watching her speculatively, and lifted her eyebrows at him. He looked away nonchalantly, and she wondered what that was about.

But what did it matter? If he wanted a fight, she'd give it to him. She was Kitty, after all.

* * *

After school.

Kitty knocked on the door to Riku's house, and waited patiently for an answer. Then cursed herself for being a moron and hit the doorbell instead. All the electronic gadgets around here took some remembering.

Riku's cousin answered the door. Kitty frowned at the man. He was at least twenty, already graduated school but still living at home with no job. She thought he was as much a thug as Seifer… but a slimier sort of thug, the kind you couldn't trust at all. Seifer could have been worthy of her knife, but not this one. He had very long, silvery hair, held into a ponytail with a clip, and the same green eyes as Riku. But he was much heavier, and it was almost all muscle. He smiled at her as his gaze wandered down to her tits. He never even bothered to try keeping his eyes on her face.

"Hey, where's Riku?" She asked him, and he replied to her chest.

"Dunno, he hasn't gotten home from school yet." Kitty blinked at that but had the presence of mind to keep her mouth shut. Riku had gotten out of school early because he was sick… but he hadn't come home? That couldn't be good. Kitty touched her red stone. She wanted to ask the oracle, but not right in front of this assknob.

"Oh. Well, tell him I'll be at the park when he gets home." She walked away and went to the corner coffee shop. They had a payphone, and soon she was making a call to Riku's cell phone. She didn't have a cell phone of her own… she still hadn't really gotten the hang of them. Payphones were challenging enough.

_Hello?_ Riku sounded wary as he answered.

"It's Kitty. Where the hell are you? I thought you got off school early but your cuz says you haven't been home." There was a pause before Riku spoke again, an edge of fear on his voice.

_You didn't tell them that, did you?_ Kitty snorted into the phone, glancing around.

"Do I look like a complete tool? Of course not. But I want to know what's going on. Can you meet me at the park?"

_I'm there already actually. Up at the big tree._

"Perfect. I'll be there in ten." Hanging up the phone, Kitty started out briskly. She badly wanted to know what was going on now. Something was off, any idiot could tell that. Briefly, she wondered if this was connected to Sora being sick. Could he be there with Riku? But Riku hadn't mentioned that. More likely it was just a coincidence.

When she reached the tree, she found Riku sitting on one of the middle branches, watching the sunset. Without a thought, she grabbed a branch and began climbing, until she could sit beside Riku on the branch. It was a good, sturdy branch so she wasn't worried about it breaking under their weight. Riku didn't look at her, just looked at the sunset, and she took the moment to study him. There were bruises on his face and scabs on his lower lip.

"You want to tell me what's wrong?" She finally said. There was a silence before Riku responded.

"Not really, no." His voice was rough, full of suppressed emotion, and his face was blank. With a sigh, Kitty flipped out her stone and gazed at him through it.

She watched emotionlessly as she saw Riku trapped beneath his cousin, hands pinioned over his head. The larger man was holding Riku's wrists with one hand, and the other was around his throat, bruising his face with long fingers as he whispered something in the silver haired boy's ear. She didn't need to hear the words to know what it would be… threats, promises, poisoned candy… Flipping the stone down, she looked at Riku. His head was down and his shoulders were hunched. Shame.

"Let me tell you something about myself, Riku." She said, slowly flipping the stone over in her hand. "My parents always indulged my brother in anything he wanted. He was the golden boy… I was just a girl, and a pain in the ass. He beat me up plenty and got away with it. Well, when I was twelve I started growing tits, and he had a new game for me." Her tone was light, but Riku raised his head to look at her. "Until I was fifteen, he did everything to me. Everything… so tell me Riku. How long has your cousin been raping you?"

"…Since I was eight." Riku said almost inaudibly, and Kitty had to lean closer to listen. "He… they visited my family, at first. It was just once in a while then and he convinced me to… to play with him. I should have told, but he gave me things and it just seemed funny at first…" That sounded lame to him, stupid, but Kitty gently touched his shoulder.

"He was starting out small, working you up to it." She supplied for him, and Riku nodded.

"Yeah. It got stranger, but he… reminded me of the things we did before, and said my parents wouldn't understand. Our little secret." Riku's green eyes were glazed over with unshed tears. "I didn't like it. I never liked it. And then my parents died and… I never should have come back here, but I wanted to be with Sora and Kairi. I thought it would be different. That he couldn't force me now. I'm a keybearer but I-" Riku stopped with a choked off sob, trying to turn away from her, but Kitty pulled him close with strong arms.

"He caught you by surprise, and he's bigger than you. A keyblade doesn't help much if you can't move." She said softly, and Riku sniffed, nodding. "Riku, listen to me. You're not going to use your keyblade on this sick fucker." Riku looked up at her, startled, and she smiled coldly. "You're seventeen. If you kill him, you'll get in trouble. And that's what the keyblade is for… killing."

"Then what will I do? I can't live like this." His voice was full of bitter pain, and Kitty's smile turned bleak.

"There's a smart way to deal with it, and a stupid way. Want to hear?" Riku nodded cautiously. "The smart way is to tell the cops. Let them deal with it, put him in prison, the works." Riku winced and violently shook his head. That would mean everyone knowing what had happened to him. "That's what I thought… so the stupid way. You'll have to do what I did to my brother." She lowered her voice, looking at him intensely. "You'll have to beat the living shit out of him. Don't let him come to you, challenge his ass and then _break_ him. Not with the keyblade. With your bare hands."

"How? He knows how to fight, and he's a lot stronger than me. He's a martial artist, Kitty." Riku knew his cousin had gotten at least one black belt. Kitty grinned evilly.

"I don't know shit about martial arts, Riku. I know Copperfield Avenue fighting. I'll teach you how to fight like we did on the streets… how to use your fists, your knees, your elbows, your teeth." Kitty clicked her teeth at him, then grinned again, predatory as a shark. "When I decided I'd had enough, I found a gang leader who was willing to take me on and teach me for my ass. He taught me how to hurt a man, and keep him hurting for a long time. That's what I'm going to teach you, Riku. Not how to kill your cousin… how to _hurt _him so bad he'll never want to touch you again. And if your Aunt kicks you out when it's over, you can come live with me." She said, anticipating his main objection. Riku's eyes widened.

"You're sure, Kitty?" She was living in a house with two other girls. Would they want a guy there? Kitty sneered.

"The bitches can just deal with it. They have their boyfriends over all the time. You ready to start learning, or are you too sore?" Kitty cracked her knuckles… she wanted to get started with the lessons. The sooner Riku learned, the sooner he could turn the tables on his cousin.

"I'm ready. And thank you, Kitty." Riku said softly, and hugged her. Kitty laughed, reaching up to touch the fine silver hair.

"Don't thank me, Riku. You're going to be eating enough dirt to make a garden before this is over. I can't go easy on you now." She would have to teach him exactly the way she had been taught, now… the hard way. "Just remember, when you're hating me, how good it's going to feel when your cousin is begging for mercy."

Kitty could remember how it had felt when she had made her brother beg, then broke his arm anyway. The memory would always bring warmth to her walnut sized heart.


	6. The Word of the Day is Blood

Author's note: Thanks for the reviews Panda! I'd reply directly, but since you're not signed I can't. ^_^ I'm just happy to see that someone is reading this, heh.

Kitty waited by the tree in the park. Tonight was the night. She had trained Riku brutally for a week, taking his existing knowledge and building on it ruthlessly. He'd been a quick learner, but it had still been hard to learn what he needed to know that quickly. They had skipped a ton of classes, pretending to be sick and getting Kairi to cover for them.

Sora… had been resistant, when they approached him, and Kitty wondered what his problem was. It seemed to be a problem with her, but she hadn't done anything to him. Finally they had just skipped him in favor of Kairi, who was willing to help without asking too many questions. But Riku had been hurt by Sora's obstinacy. It was puzzling.

Kitty lifted her head as she heard someone walking towards her. When Riku came into sight, she started forward… he looked like someone had run him over with a truck. He had a black eye, heavy bruises on one side of his face and blood trickling from the a bitten lip. But he also looked exhilarated, almost floating.

"I did it Kitty. I really did it." Kitty grinned and hugged him, and he hugged her back tightly. "I think I broke his ribs. I know I broke his fingers." Riku laughed in her hair. "I wonder how he'll explain it when my aunt gets home. I told him that if he tried to get me in trouble with the police, I'd tell them exactly why I did it." And if his brother tried to press assault charges on him, he would. He didn't want it to get out, but he would. "You're right Kitty… that felt good. It really did."

"Told ya." She nuzzled his throat for a moment. "C'mon, let's go back to my place. The girls are expecting you." Riku had already come to her place a few times, and knew her flatmates. "And you need to get cleaned up, you look like hell." Riku touched his cheek and winced, then gently kissed her cheek.

"Thank you Kitty." He really did appreciate everything she was doing for him. He had a job, but it was only delivering newspapers, so he wouldn't be able to pay a full share of the rent until he found something better. Kitty was covering it until then, and said it was no problem. That was a bit surprising, but he accepted it without question.

It never occurred to him to ask exactly how Kitty was making her money, and it never occurred to her to tell him. She thought he knew.

* * *

"Hey there, sexy. What are you doing here?" Kitty blinked, turning her head to look at the familiar voice.

She was standing near the railing of a civic building, near the stairs. The stairs had railings too, and she was considering a new trick involving them. It wouldn't be a super trick, but she was bored. Riku had gone to spend a night with Sora, and it was clear that they needed some guy time. As far as Kitty was concerned, that was dandy. She and Riku weren't joined at the hip and didn't need to do everything together.

Now, though, Seifer was grinning at her. Rai, Fuu and Vivi were behind him… Fuu was looking a little hostile while Rai seemed friendly enough, waving at her. Kitty idly wondered if the sexy comment had anything to do with Fuu's pissed off air.

"Just thinkin'. And what are you doing here?" She asked him, and he walked up to her, putting a hand on her lower back. Kitty's eyes narrowed… that was a bit too forward.

"Just saw you here… I heard you work at the Black Kitty Club. Does your boyfriend know?" Seifer asked pleasantly, and Kitty smiled, showing a few too many teeth.

"I told him. Now, get your hand off my back before I feed it to you." Her tone was just as pleasant, and Seifer removed his hand casually, as if he'd been planning to do it anyway.

"No need to get so bitchy. We were wondering if you wanted to hang out. Vivi just turned legal for drinking, and we were going to celebrate." Kitty looked at him thoughtfully… the legal age to drink here was sixteen, so she was well past it and so were they.

"Sure, why not." Kitty wasn't sure why she was agreeing… except maybe free beer. Oh, yeah, that would be why. And unlike Hayner, she didn't dislike Seifer. If things had been different, she might have taken up with him. "But before that… I must try this." She clapped her hands, straightening her shoulders and throwing back her hair. "Want to see something fucking cool?"

"Sure." Seifer watched, interested, as she jumped up onto the railing going down the stairs. They were a long set of stairs, and it was smooth enough for her to slide down… and get some good momentum going.

"Weeee!" Kitty grinned as the air sent her hair flying… then tried to do a neat jump off the end of the banister. But she miscalculated, and her foot snagged on the knob at the end. "Oh fu-!" Her agility saved her from a fall on the face, as she twisted in midair… but didn't save her from a butt skid across the pavement. "OW!" There was a burst of laughter from Rai and Fuu, and Seifter leaned against the rail, grinning down at her.

"Okay, that was pretty cool until the end." He said teasingly, and she grimaced, standing up and looking down at her butt. Her pants were a bit shredded but still decent, and she had a prime case of road rash.

"You might, y'know, want to practice it more. Y'know?" Rai said, and Kitty rolled her eyes.

"I figured that out. You guys have any band-aids? My butt looks like raw meat." Seifer pulled out some gauze… they tended to get into trouble… and Kitty pulled down her pants so he could take care of the problem. He had to gently wipe the wounds first, getting rid of the worst of the dirt. Soon, she had a nice pad in place, and remarkably Seifer didn't feel up her ass. She glanced down at the road-

And froze. There should have been streaks of blood there. She had seen them as she stood. But now the road was clean.

"Shit." She mumbled, and yanked her pants back up as flicked her wrist, her knife appearing. "We have trouble." Seifer and his gang looked around, but couldn't see anything.

"What are you talking about?" Seifer pulled out his bat, just in case. "There's nothing- ah!" Fuu had kicked something. It was bright red, blobby and exploded on the blow. "What the hell?"

"I don't know. They come around sometimes when I get hurt. They're pussies though, just smash them." Bigger blobs were coming at them, and Seifer got to work smashing them with his bat. Rai and Fuu punched and kicked them, as Vivi cast a few spells. Kitty slashed them apart easily with her knife, and finally there was only quivering blobs on the ground.

"You're right, those things are pussies." Seifer prodded one with a toe. "What are they, though?" Kitty shrugged.

"No idea. But I knew they were coming 'cause my blood vanished. Sometimes when I bleed, this happens. It's weird." She wasn't too concerned by it. The things weren't at all difficult to destroy.

"Um, I think we still have a problem." Vivi said quietly, looking over the blobs, and Kitty turned her head to look… then sucked in a breath. The blobs were moving, gathering into one larger blob… much larger. As they watched, it opened red 'eyes' and started towards them.

"Okay, this is new." Kitty had to admit. Glancing at her knife, she frowned. It was too short… she wasn't going to hit anything vital on a slime monster with it. "Hmm…" There was a traffic sign not too far away. Sprinting towards it, she put magic in her knife and easily sliced through the pole, grabbing it. It was pretty heavy but just what she needed. "Okay!" She whirled just as the creature sent out a tentacle at her, and smashed it back.

It became clear very quickly that Fuu and Rai weren't going to be much help. Fuu attacked it fearlessly, but as soon as she kicked it it tried to suck her in. Only Rai's quick grab saved her from getting pulled inside. Kitty wasn't sure what would happen if it got one of them, but didn't want to find out. Vivi's magic, Seifer's bat and her pole were doing damage, but the damn thing just kept reforming. Kitty panted as she hit it again… didn't it have any vital organs?

"It's going to wear us out at this rate!" Vivi called, and Kitty leapt back, yanking out her stone and peering through it, asking it to reveal the monsters weakness.

Blinking, she saw a dark portal in the air behind it. It had been invisible before, but now she could see it even when she lowered the stone. That portal was what was holding the monster here. If they could close it…

"Seifer, give me your bat!" She yelled at him, beating the monster again. He gave her a look that indicated she had lost her mind. "I need it! This thing is being powered by a portal and your bat is non-conductive!" She was sure that was a scrambled explanation… magic didn't work like electricity… but it was close. She knew she couldn't close that portal with metal but wood would be perfect.

"Then give me that pole!" They quickly swapped weapons, and Kitty held Seifer's bat over her head for a moment, closing her eyes. So she didn't see the red liquid that slid down the bat, thick and viscous and smelling like blood. "Rai! Give me a boost in that direction!" She pointed at the portal with the bat, then ran at the big man. He made a stirrup of his hands, and tossed her easily into the air.

There was a sizzling sound as the bat went into the portal, and the red liquid erupted in a cloud of red steam. Another, brighter flash of red and the smell of ozone followed, and Kitty was tossed back violently as the portal shut. The monster screamed and dissolved into a pile of goo as Seifer managed to catch her, both of them being knocked to the ground by the force of it. Seifer's bat was a bit singed, but mostly undamaged.

"Ow." Kitty raised her head as Seifer put his arms around her, and didn't try to pull away. She felt like she'd been kicked by a horse. "That really-"

"Halt! You're under arrest!"

"Sucked." She finished, and sighed, laying her head against Seifer's chest.

Could this day get any worse?

* * *

Sora and Riku were hanging out in the park, at the same tree he and Kitty usually visited. It was almost a reminder of the Destiny Islands… the big branch they could both sit on was really nostalgic. Sora was telling him a joke, and Riku was laughing when his cell phone rang. He frowned, pulling it out, and frowned even more at the unfamiliar number. But Kitty always called from payphones, so he flipped it open.

"Hello?" Sora watched, a bit impatiently as Riku answered the call.

_Riku! Honey, I hate to do this to you, but I'm kinda in trouble here-YES! I know, I have five minutes, gawd! Honey, can you please go to our apartment, get all my cash and bail me out? I'm begging you, the beds here suck._ Riku blinked as he absorbed that.

"You're in JAIL? What happened?" Riku didn't notice as Sora scowled, then began to almost pout.

_It's a real long story. Oh, can you bail out Seifer and his gang too? It's totally my fault they got involved with this._

"You want me to bail out Seifer?" This was getting more and more unreal. "Alright, Kitty, but I'm going to want an explanation for this."

_I wish I had one. See you soon, honey._ The line went dead. Riku shook his head in disbelief as he put away his phone.

"Sorry, Sora, I need to get Kitty out of jail. Do you want to come?" He asked, and Sora looked away.

"No." He said shortly, and Riku blinked, touching his shoulder. Sora seemed really unhappy at the interruption.

"Sora, I'm sorry. We can get together some other time." Riku wasn't sure why Sora was acting like this… they saw each other in school every day, after all. Sora sighed, and forced on a smile.

"Yeah, you're right Riku. We can get together some other time." A bit reassured, Riku slid out of the tree. Sora watched him go, then stayed in the tree, watching the sun set. If Riku had seen the sadness on his face, it would have worried him.

But he wasn't there, and didn't see.

* * *

The next day.

Kitty sighed as she waited for their turn to come up. She, Seifer and his gang were all their, waiting for a judge to pronounce their fate. It wasn't her first experience with the law and it probably wouldn't be her last. At least this time, the charges seemed to be minor. Unfortunately, she wasn't going to be sleeping her way out of things this time. As they filed up, the judge looked decidedly unamused with them.

"Seifer. Again?" The judge asked rhetorically, and Seifer had the sense not to answer. He shuffled through his papers for a moment. "Hmmph. It appears to be not actually your fault this time. Amazing. Do you have anything to say?"

"If it was anyone's fault, it was mine." Kitty volunteered. "That stuff was after me, and I cut down the pole." That was the main charge, damage to public property. The judge nodded to her.

"So I see. Well, since there is considerable and messy evidence that you are not at fault, you are each fined a dollar and need to complete eight hours of community service. Dismissed." Kitty blinked at that punishment… community service?... and followed Seifer's lead out. He was smiling, and Rei and Fuu looked relieved. It was hard to tell what Vivi was feeling.

"Eight hours? One Saturday and we'll have it down. It'll be a snap." He said confidently as they were brought to a clerk. She looked up at them, bored, as their escort handed her a paper.

"Hm… you can all join the cleanup crew down by the train tracks. There's been a lot of littering there." She handed them each a sheet with the date, time and place to meet. Kitty was feeling a bit bemused by the whole practice. She'd expected a high fine… this community service thing was entirely new to her. But from how Seifer and the others were acting, it wasn't a terrible punishment. Riku was in school at the moment, but she'd have to ask him about it later. Maybe he would know exactly what it entailed.

If not, she would just have to see.

* * *

"Hey Seifer! Want to see something fucking cool?" She called to him, and he looked up from where he was snagging papers. She waved a piece of garbage at him, and he stared for a moment before making a gagging sound.

"That's disgusting! Throw it away." Grinning, Kitty tossed the used condom into the bag. She was wearing gloves, thankfully. Although it wouldn't have bothered her much to handle it barehanded. She'd done worse.

"Someone here has been having a lot of fun. I just wish it had been me." She said mournfully, and everyone laughed.

"Got that right, y'know!" Rai said, poking up some more debris. "Hey, is this a crack pipe?" Kitty looked over, interested. She knew all about cocaine… it was legal on her world. She'd never tried it though. Her first boyfriend had warned her about the nastier side effects. He'd been pretty smart for a gang leader.

"Could be. This place needs a fence or something." This stretch of the railroad tracks was out of the way, but still fairly close to town and made a perfect spot for all kinds of illicit activities. They were finding plenty to do on their enforced chore. "Or a really good fire." Fuu looked thoughtful at that, but didn't say anything.

"Nah, that would hurt the tracks." Seifer said, taking care of some bottles. "So, you want to go to that bar tonight?" Kitty blinked, surprised.

"You still want to?" She hadn't thought Seifer would still want to hang out with her. But he grinned at her.

"Sure, why not. We never got to celebrate Vivi's birthday, and it wasn't your fault." Kitty thought about it. She wasn't going to make her shift at the club, and Riku was spending time with Sora to make up for the night they missed. So why not?

"Sure." Seifer looked pleased, and Kitty couldn't help but smile.

It had been a long time since she had free beer, and she was looking forward to it.


	7. Word of the Day is Brougt to u by SMart

"What's she got that I don't," Sora mumbled to himself, and immediately felt stupid. Obviously Kitty had breasts. And they were very well displayed at the moment, in a bright red bikini. Sora caught himself watching and looked down with a scowl.

Kairi, Sora, Riku and Kitty were at the beach. It was the weekend, and they'd decided to play a bit. They had managed to find a very private, very secluded little beach, which was useful given a few of the things they were doing. Right now Riku and Kitty were sparring a bit. Not very seriously… Kitty was concentrating on pure defense, and it was really remarkable how she could easily hold Riku off. The Way to Dawn was easily three times the length of her dagger, but she bobbed, weaved and clashed her dagger with his blade without hesitation. She should have been at a disadvantage, but it didn't seem to bother her.

Riku wasn't trying that hard either though. They were mostly playing, and Sora felt his resentment flare. It was stupid, and he knew it, but he almost hated Kitty. Not for anything she had done, but just for being there… and being between him and Riku.

Sora had known for years that he was at least bisexual, if not gay. And he'd had a crush on Riku for longer. Riku had given absolutely no sign of returning the feeling, or even noticing… and Sora thought he'd been pretty obvious a few times. So Riku just… wasn't interested. At all.

It was stupid to resent Kitty for that. She had made Riku happy and she was trying to be friendly even when he was pushing her away. But emotions didn't answer to logic well, and Sora acted on an impulse he would soon regret.

"Hey Kitty! Want to spar with me?" He called, jumping to his feet. Kitty and Riku both turned to him, startled, and Kitty grinned.

"Why sure! But I won't go easy on you, shorty." Sora huffed at that.

"It's not my fault you're all giants." She and Riku were almost the exact same height, so Sora was quite a bit shorter than her. She just grinned at him as he called in his keyblade.

The fight between them was far more intense, less playful than what Kitty had been doing with Riku. Sora wanted to win, and the fact that Kitty was enjoying it only made him more determined to beat her. The Kingdom Key flashed out, and Riku called out to them.

"Sora, careful!" The way they were sparring was starting to alarm him. It almost looked like Sora was really trying to hurt Kitty, and the wicked gleam in her eyes was worrisome too. Sora ignored him, attacking again and pressing close-

And for the very first time, Kitty went on the offensive. Kicking him solidly in the chest, her dagger shot out and caught the Kingdom Key right beneath the head. There was a violent flash of red light and Riku and Kairi both had to shield their eyes.

_SNICK_

_TINK_

Everyone looked down at the sand as the head of the Kingdom Key went rolling across the ground. Sora looked at his mutilated keyblade and went white, as Kitty examined her dagger with a frown. The dark grey metal of it was burred, and the runes etched in the steel were glowing a sullen red.

"I think I damaged my knife." She gently touched the burr, and it smoothed out. "Oh, maybe not-" She was interrupted by Sora's hysterical reaction.

"Your knife?!? Look what you did to my keyblade!" Kitty blinked at the broken keyblade, a bit startled. She hadn't thought her knife could do something like that. "The Kingdom Key is broken!"

"Stop yelling." She said to Sora irritably as he grabbed up the head of the key and desperately tried to put it back together. "I'll ask the oracle." Flipping out her stone, she looked through it and saw what she needed to do. "Really?" Frowning at the stone, she walked over to Sora. "I need the key, Sora."

"No! You broke it!" Kitty sneered at him. He was sounding like a child.

"D'you want me to fix it or not?" Sora stared up at her, his blue eyes glazed with tears, then looked down at the ruins of his keyblade. It meant more to him than any petty resentment.

"You can fix it?" He finally said, his voice young and fragile. Kitty's expression softened into a smile… that was almost cute.

"Yeah. The oracle says you need the blood of Persephone." She bounced the stone. "So just give it here." Sora blinked, but complied, handing over the key.

"The blood of Persephone? Where do we get that?" Riku asked, watching Kitty as she began scraping her red stone against the broken pieces of the head and body of the keyblade.

"Oh, it's right here. That's what this stone is called." She replied absently, and Kairi gasped as she saw that the stone was leaving red marks on the keyblade. It almost seemed to be like lathering soap, and soon little tendrils of red were oozing down the blade. "It's the blood of a goddess, or so I was told by the guy who sold it to me. No one could use it until I came along… I got it for tuppence." The head and the base of the blade had a thick coating of red on their broken parts, now, and Riku frowned as he caught the scent of fresh blood. It seemed she was speaking literally. "Noooow…" Kitty held the head and base for a moment, then joined them. There was a sizzling sound and a smell like meat burning, and then the red streaks on the blade suddenly solidified, turning into red gems. "There you go." Kitty took a few experimental swipes with the blade, then tossed it to Sora. "Good as new." Sora frowned as he hefted his blade.

"It feels… different." It felt heavier, as if something had been added. He tentatively touched one of the red gems on the gold metal, and it felt warm. Kitty shrugged.

"Blood of the goddess probably does that. I wouldn't worry about it. So who wants to go swimming?" She flicked her wrist and tossed the stone onto her clothes, sitting on the beach.

"Me!" Kairi took the initiative and ran into the ocean. "Last one in is a dead clam!" Kitty laughed and followed, Sora close behind as Riku looked at the red stone.

"Blood of Persephone." He mused to himself. He'd have to look up Persephone sometime. He had a feeling it could be important.

* * *

Riku looked at the tickets in his hand dubiously. He'd won them in a radio contest, a contest he was just barely old enough to enter. He'd done it on a lark, and hadn't expected to hear his name drawn. They were for a special show at the Black Kitty Club. Riku blinked as he suddenly remembered… that was where Kitty worked. She wasn't home, so he couldn't ask her what the show was like. Was this place a theater? The name didn't sound quite right. Shrugging, he pulled out his cell and dialed Sora's number.

"Hey Sora, want to go to a show tomorrow? Just the two of us?" Kitty was working and he only had two tickets anyway. Sora's voice came back, cheerful and peppy.

_Sure! Where?_ Riku squinted at the tickets.

"The Black Kitty Club, Diagon Avenue… I won some tickets for a show." There was a brief pause before Sora spoke again.

_I'll have to ask my mom. Although… is that the club or the show?_ Riku frowned and looked carefully at the tickets.

"It's the show. Two hour show in the main auditorium starts at seven." There was a relieved sigh on the other end.

_That should be fine. I'll meet you there! Later!_ Riku frowned as he put away the phone. Was he missing something?

If he was, he'd find out tomorrow.

* * *

Kitty looked at herself in the mirror, applying her makeup and adjusting her outfit. It made her look like a very naughty little schoolgirl.

The Black Kitty Club, unlike many clubs of its type, had some pretensions of class and artistic merit. So there were two parts to the club… the club, where traditional pole dancing was done, and the auditorium where actual plays were put on. They were naughty, of course, and involved some stripping and a lot of highly suggestive themes… but there was also a story and some narration. Getting a spot in the auditorium had some downsides, but also significant upsides. Kitty grinned as she thought about it. There were no tips, but you were paid a lot more to make up for that, and if you worked in the auditorium you could actually call yourself a performer with a straight face. And there was no chance of getting groped, although that didn't happen too much in the club either. Mainly because the very nasty bouncers took care of it immediately when it did.

Kitty hadn't been too interested in the auditorium, but when a spot had come open she'd tried out for it and had been surprised when she was picked. A lot of the other girls were jealous, which she answered with a sneer. If they wanted to take her, they were welcome to try. She'd already established that she was no one to mess with.

Her part in the story was relatively short, a single scene in fact… but an important one that she handled alone. Once it was done, she'd be free to get a drink and a bite to eat before the next show.

She really couldn't wait to get home to Riku. Just thinking about him put a smile on her face… was she really in love? Kitty grinned at herself. She wouldn't know love if it bit her in the ass, but she thought maybe she was.

There was the sound of a bell, and she stood, going to take her place backstage.

Showtime.

* * *

Riku watched wide-eyed, blushing, as the performance unfolded. Sora was embarrassed but interested… he'd known what to expect.

The performance was divided into many small skits, connected together by the main character… a girl who was trying to find her home and searching in all the wrong places. It was a pretty simple plot, but the plot wasn't what was keeping everyone's attention glued to the stage.

"You could have warned me!" Riku hissed to Sora, and Sora blinked.

"I thought you knew. The main club is pole dancing." Riku blinked. Kitty was a pole dancer? That… explained a lot, now that he thought of it. For a moment that bothered him, but…

"That's Kitty." He mumbled to himself. Pole dancing seemed like something she would do without a second thought, and he loved her for herself so he could hardly-

"Riku!" Sora nudged him in the side, and he looked up, startled, as a familiar redhead walked onto the stage. The set had changed… there was nothing there but a dusty desk and a chair sitting beside it. Then the music started.

_Missed me, missed me, now you've got to kiss me.  
If you kiss me, mister, I might tell my sister._

_If I tell her, mister, she might tell my mother and my  
mother, mister, she might tell my father and my father,  
mister, he won't be too happy and he'll have his lawyer  
come up from the city and arrest you, mister,  
so I wouldn't miss me if you get me, mister, see?_

Kitty played the naughty schoolgirl to perfection, using the chair and desk in her dance. Riku swallowed hard as she ran a finger up the inside of her thigh, sliding up the skirt and revealing red panties. Sora gasped, but Riku hardly noticed… Kitty was pumping out enough sensual energy to set the curtains on fire.

_Missed me, missed, me now you've got to kiss me.  
If you kiss me, mister, you must think I'm pretty.  
If you think so, mister, you must want to fuck me.  
If you fuck me, mister, it must mean you love me.  
If you love me, mister, you would never leave me  
it's as simple as can be!_

The second girl, the one searching for her home, joined the dance. She was dressed as a schoolgirl too, now, and there was a tearing sound from the music just as Kitty ripped open her shirt, revealing a bright red, frilly bra.

_Missed me, missed me, now you've gone and done it,  
hope you're happy in the county penitentiary  
it serves you right for kissing little girls, but I will visit, if you miss me.  
Say you miss me.  
How's the food they feed you?  
Do you miss me?  
Will you kiss me through the window?  
Do you miss me, miss me?  
Will they ever let you go?  
I miss my mister so._

Kitty sank to her knees, hiding her face in her hands sadly as the song concluded, and the other girl wrapped her arms around her comfortingly. Then the curtain dropped to thunderous applause. People started to get up… this was the intermission, the time where they could get some liquor to go with the show. Riku, though, had other plans. Sora trailing behind, he made his way to the backstage-

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" A burley man blocked their way, and Riku stopped, folding his hands behind him in as non-threatening a manner as he could manage. Good security in a place like this was perfectly understandable.

"I'm Kitty's boyfriend, Riku. I was wondering if I could see her?" He asked politely, and the man's scowl eased a bit.

"Oh, Kitty. You have a pass?" Riku blinked, and shook his head. "Well, you'll have to get one-" Then another voice interrupted.

"It's okay John, he's really my boyfriend. I've been meaning to get him a pass but forgot. Hey Riku! I was wondering when you'd come to see me." John watched tolerantly as Kitty hugged Riku, and he returned it.

"Just make sure he gets a pass for next time, Kitty." He cautioned, watching as Kitty dragged Riku to her prep room. Sora was still behind them, a little unsure but following Riku. The room she pulled them into was more of a closet, but there was a mirror and a spot to sit.

"Kitty, why didn't you tell me you work at a strip club?" Riku decided to get right to the point, and Kitty blinked at him.

"I told you the name… I thought you knew." She'd known they had been ignorant at first, but had thought they'd surely figured it out. Sora certainly had, from a few comments he'd made to her. Riku blushed and shook his head.

"I don't go to strip clubs, Kitty. I thought you were working at a tea house or something." Kitty gaped at him for a moment, then laughed.

"A tea house! Me? Here you are ma'am, want some sugar? One lump or two? Ohhh yeah!" Riku couldn't help but laugh as she mimed dropping sugar in a cup, then made a tremendous slurping sound. "I've been kicked out of tea houses in my time. And banned!"

"I don't want to know why." Riku put his arms around her, giving her a passionate kiss, and Kitty returned it, melting against him.

"You don't mind, do you?" She said softly in his ear, and Riku shook his head, kissing her cheek.

"It's fine. You were great up there… you make a wonderful naughty schoolgirl." Kitty grinned, and reached down to rub him through his pants.

"Then let's do something naughty, right here, right now." Sora watched, wide-eyed, as there was the sound of a zipper being undone and Riku groaned, pressing Kitty against the wall and nuzzling her neck.

"I-uh-I'll just be right outside." He beat a hasty retreat, unsure either of them had even heard him. Sora ended up waiting outside the room for them, trying to ignore the sounds coming from within, and had altogether too much time to think about his own reactions.

He'd been… really turned on by Kitty's skit. And some of the rest of the play, too, but not nearly as much as that one scene. Was he bisexual? Was he actually attracted to Kitty? And did it mean anything if he was? Sora rubbed his forehead, feeling like he was getting a headache. And the things he was hearing were making his pants feel too tight…

This wasn't a good day.


	8. The Word of the Day is Hades

Kitty laughed happily as she and Riku walked through the festival, hand in hand.

Traverse Town was having a yearly holiday, and a street festival had erupted in one part of the town. Well, actually, it had been carefully planned, but the way it had appeared overnight gave the appearance of an eruption. There were hundreds of street stalls, plenty of games and even some rides. Kitty was having a blast and Riku was enjoying her pleasure. He'd seen this fair before and hadn't enjoyed it a lot last time… but then, Kitty hadn't been with him. Then Kitty spotted something interesting and poked him in the side.

"Hey, look at that!" Riku looked over curiously at what she was pointing at. It was a little mock gazebo where a pair of teenagers were giggling and repeating the words a… minister?... was getting them to say. He gave them each plastic rings with big flowers on them, and then they kissed in typical horny teenager style. "Let's see what's going on over there." She walked over and began reading a laminated card tacked onto the gazebo. "Hah! Mock weddings?" Kitty glanced over at Riku with a grin. "Let's do it!" Riku shrugged and grinned.

"Why not?" They stood in line patiently, and Kitty examined the 'minister' curiously. He had the bushiest head of grey hair she'd ever seen, and was beaming and trying to give religious tracts to anyone who came close, as well as doing his mock weddings. They were definitely mock, although the card noted that if you were willing to pay 300 munny more, you could get the paperwork needed to make it official. Apparently he was an ordained minister in the church of… Kitty had to squint to read the words that had been crammed in at the bottom of the card. The Church of the One Winged Angel? Well, that was interesting.

"What a lovely couple!" He exclaimed as they reached the front of the line. Riku laughed and Kitty grinned at him. "So! Did you want the paperwork or just the snogging?" Kitty couldn't help but giggle. She'd never heard it called that before.

"Snogging, please." Riku said with a small smile. "We're a bit too young to actually be getting married." He thought that was an understatement. The preacher beamed even more.

"Well then! Repeat after me. In sickness and in health, to love and to cherish…" They repeated the words, looking at each other, although Kitty grinned when he got to the 'obey' part of the female vows. Then added, sotto voice, "In bed." Riku had to struggle not to laugh. Then Riku slid a pink plastic ring on her finger, and she slid a green one on his, and they kissed.

There was something a bit strange about it, an odd electricity in the air, but that just made Kitty more enthusiastic. She never noticed the stone glowing, and wouldn't have thought much of it if she had. The blood of Persephone was a mystery to her. Finally they parted, grinning.

"Excellent, excellent! Take these with you and read them sometime." They politely accepted the pamphlets and went on their way. Riku tossed his, but Kitty flipped through it curiously.

"Woah, Riku, look at this. A church dedicated to Sephiroth?" Riku blinked and glanced at the pamphlet. "You'll still die, you'll just die faster. Hail Jenovah. Is he serious?" Kitty had encountered a lot of lunacy in her life, but this was going a bit far. Riku blinked again and shook his head.

"I have no idea… hm. I should show that to Cloud." He had no idea how Cloud would react, but it would definitely be interesting. Maybe dangerous, but interesting. Kitty laughed and folded up the pamphlet, putting it in her pocket. Then she eyed a fake tattoo stand thoughtfully.

"You know, Riku, I've been thinking about getting a tattoo on my butt. What do you think?" Riku blinked at that.

"Sounds good, as long as it's not a bar code." That would be going a bit too far. Kitty snorted at the thought.

"Hmph! My ass isn't for sale. Oh look, candy!" And Kitty was off to investigate another interesting thing. Riku smiled, watching her red hair as she bent over the display.

She was so beautiful. He had no idea how he'd gotten by before he met her.

* * *

Kitty tossed her stone from hand to hand as she walked up to the tree, then blinked.

Someone else was there, at her and Riku's favorite spot. At first she thought it was Riku, but the boy was too small. Then she identified him as Sora, and almost sighed.

She and Sora just weren't getting along. It had gotten a little better after he and Riku had come to the club, for some odd reason, but it still wasn't very good. He always kept pushing at her and naturally she pushed back. She had begun to wonder if he was jealous, but that seemed ridiculous. He had just started dating Kairi so clearly he wasn't entirely gay… She considered just walking away, but dismissed it. Riku was going to be meeting her here soon anyway.

"Hey Sora!" She called up to him, and he looked down, startled. She started climbing the tree and sat down beside him, ignoring his frown. "Fancy meeting you here. How's it going?"

"Fine." Sora said shortly, looking down and clearly considering leaving. But before he could move, Kitty put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hold on a sec. I think we really need to talk." Sora frowned again, uneasy, as Kitty pulled out her stone and bounced it thoughtfully. "Want to tell me what the problem is you have with me?"

"No, I don't." Sora said shortly and she lifted an eyebrow at him. "Just leave me alone." Kitty snorted and flipped up her stone.

"I'll ask the oracle." For a brief moment she saw something… before Sora's suddenly slapped her stone out of her hand. "NO!" Kitty had no idea if the stone could break or not but the very idea was hideous. She dove after the stone and caught it just before her head smacked into a branch.

Kitty blinked, realizing she must have blacked out. Her head was in Sora's lap and he was crying.

"I'm sorry Kitty, I didn't mean to hurt you. I just l-love Riku so much and I know he doesn't love me but –" Sora was telling her his feelings and just a moment ago she'd wanted to know. But right now her eyes had slid down to the spots of blood on the forest floor. Blood that was vanishing before her very eyes.

"Sora." She grabbed his arm weakly just as another red thing came out from the bushes behind him. "_Look out!"_ Sora looked at her in surprise then screamed as a bright red tendril batted him aside. He called up his keyblade and looked up to see the thing gripping Kitty by the ankles and lifting her up easily. She was trying to slash it with her knife but just couldn't find the strength.

"Kitty!" He screamed as the blob swallowed her and darted forward, swinging at it wildly. But then the red thing vanished, leaving only crumpled bushes and a few broken trees to note its passing. And the Blood of Persephone, glittering on the ground.

Kitty was gone.

* * *

"Mffph." Kitty was in a lot of pain. Her head was killing her and she had aches on top of aches, but she was still miraculously alive. Kitty blinked as she became aware that someone had jammed a ball gag in her mouth. "Mrph!" Kitty swallowed and tried not to drool. She hated drooling and hated ball gags.

"Are you sure Hades is going to like that?" She lifted her head to see a strange little blue creature speaking to a fat red one. Did they have wings? That was truly bizarre.

"Oh sure, he'll be happy. You know how much he hated listening to her when she was in a bitchy mood." The red one was gripping her by the shoulders and the blue one had her legs. She was tied up but she could still –

"Ah, she kicked me!"

"Serves ya right. I told you she could be a bitch. C'mon Panic, keep moving! Hades is waiting."

_Who is Hades? _Kitty wondered and her eyes narrowed. She'd always assumed the red blobs wanted to kill her. Had they been intent on kidnapping her instead? But what did this Hades want with her? It seemed like a lot of trouble to go to for good ass. No, there had to be more to it, a lot more. Kitty made the imps job as difficult as possible as a matter of principle and they were swearing mightily when they finally dumped her onto a cold, unforgiving floor. Kitty mentally added a few more bruises to the collection of things she was going to take out of their hides when she had a chance.

"What are you idiots doing with my wife?" It was a voice Kitty had never heard before. She was absolutely certain of it! So why was it so oddly familiar? A foot turned her over and she glared up furiously at the blue freak above her. Flaming hair? And those teeth! "And WHY does she have a gag in her mouth? Where did you get that?"

"We thought you wouldn't want to listen to her yelling, boss. Was that good?" The two imp things were both fawning over him in a disgusting way. That was oddly familiar too. Had she seen this before? The man above her sighed and rolled his eyes before planting his cheek on his hand and regarding her.

"Probably good. Put her up on the rack." Rack? Kitty struggled furiously as Panic and Pain hoisted her up and strapped her into place. When they were done she was hanging from the wall in an iron frame. Oddly, it wasn't really uncomfortable. They'd put her into a leather harness. "Now, honeycakes, I know you can't remember me." The blue guy was suddenly right in her face and Kitty tried to recoil as he lifted her chin with one finger. "But I'm Hades. Your loving, adorable husband." Kitty stared at him in horror and disgust and tried to say something. "Hm? I probably don't want to hear it but –" Hades suddenly popped the gag out and Kitty coughed.

"HUSBAND? What the FUCK? I wouldn't marry you if you were the last – mrph!" The gag was back and the rest of her furious tirade was muffled as Hades paced through the room.

"Yep, didn't want to hear it. Okay, listen closely." He was in her personal space again! Kitty wanted desperately to kick him in the balls. If only she could move… "You, darling, were once my wife and a goddess by the name of… Persephone." Her eyes widened as he grinned evilly. "She died but the gods never quite die, so her blood has been coursing through mortal history. Hundreds of little drops… but you, my dear, have almost all of them. Almost the perfect avatar. And through you and the power of your goddess blood I will _finally defeat HERCULES!_" He shouted and Kitty cringed back at the sudden rush of burning hot air as he turned red. "But enough of that." He went back to blue and she felt a touch relieved, but only a touch. "It's time to remind you of who you really are." His face was so close to hers and his eyes seemed to grow to fill her entire field of vision. "And who you owe obedience to…"

And then the world fell away.

* * *

"There has to be some hint of where she is." Riku muttered to himself as he looked at the Blood of Persephone. He'd tried looking through the gem but couldn't see anything. It might as well have just been a glass bead for all he could get out of it.

Sora was desperate to help but he couldn't really tell them anything about where the monster had taken her. Kairi had said something about finding a lead but Riku didn't know what she was up to. He searched through the park, desperately looking for anything that might –

"Riku!" Riku turned as Kairi and Sora ran up. Sora was grinning and Kairi was waving a paper. "I knew it! I found out about Persephone!"

"Persephone?" Riku glanced down at the stone in his hand. "You think that might be connected?"

"It's all we have to go with. And look!" She gave him the paper and Riku carefully read it.

_In Greek mythology, Persephone (pronounced /pərˈs__ɛ__fəniː/; Kore or Cora) was the embodiment of the Earth's fertility at the same time that she was the Queen of the Underworld, the korē (or young maiden), and the parthenogenic daughter of Demeter and, in later Classical myths, a daughter of Demeter and Zeus. In the Olympian version, she also becomes the consort of Hades when he becomes the deity that governs the underworld._

"Hades!" Riku knew about Hades from Sora's stories of the Olympic Coliseum. He'd never actually gone to that world himself. "We'll have to get the gummy ship. How long will that take?" That was worrying. Sora winced, looking down.

"A day or so. I can get a message to Mickey and he can send it over. Donald and Goofy will probably be there too and maybe Hercules can help." Sora said and Riku nodded.

"Okay. Let's get started." He wasn't sure why Hades would want Kitty but it was the only lead they had. They had to check it out.

If it didn't pan out Riku wasn't sure what he would do.


End file.
